I'm slowing making progress on my Chief and I'm debating a J20 axle upgrade like J10 Mike. (I have a J20 plow truck that's rotting away and the axles are yearning to go on my Chief.) I've added rear discs, 3/4 ton calipers, vented rotors, and hydroboost to my D44s, but the D60 is tempting. I'll probably run the D44s for a while and decide later.

Here's a pict of J10Mike's front bumper on the Chief. I dropped in a 401 with 0.030 Keith Black pistons, comp cam, headers. Thinking about adding a Howell FI to it but may go the Affordable Fuel Injection route. I plan on breaking in the enigne with a standard carb and then making the switch over.

Yesterday I finished the rear bumper by adding a swing out tire carrier kit from EMS Offroad.

I switched over from a T18/D20 to a T400/Quadratrac since I use this truck mainly as a daily driver will drive it in the winter. The T18/D20 are going into a 53 Willys PU that I'm putting on top of a J10 shortbed with a 7" SOA. Maybe I'll put the axles under that chassis. (A dream project once I get the Chief done and the wife recovers from the expense.)

I've done all the work myself (including the paint) with a lot of help from a buddy of mine. I'll be posting more picts in the future.

Thanks, I've been collecting parts for 3 years waiting to finally redo the truck. I bought in San Diego when I lived there and overhauled then, ~12 years ago. I paid someone to paint it then and it cost me $3K and 1 1/2 years to get it back. Right after I had it painted back then, gun metal gray, I saw a Cherokee painted red and I decided to go that way if I ever redid the Jeep.

When I went to buy the color I couldn't decide on the 1000's of colors of red so I went with "California Red".

No, it's a 1957 Chevy Nomad that I've built with a 406 small block and a 700r4. I must have a passion for the bead rolled roofs. The Nomad was my project for 5 years while I watched the Michigan winters rust away my California Chief. At least now I have the rust under control.

Hmmm...That bumper looks familiar. At least you won't have to modify the edges to fit the curviture of the valence. It should be a perfect fit already. It's good to see that it lives again on another FSJ.

Worked this weekend to finish the rear tire carrier. After a couple of re-engineering attempts, we got it finished. Now it needs a little grinding and polishing to finish it. Also I included a few more picts of the truck. It's taking longer than expected partly because of all the little things and partly because the pole barn is at 20 degrees except for Saturday when I fire up the wood stove and kerosene heater.

I didn't realize until last night that ch4whln and I are working on nearly the same project at the same time in the same state. We're only 120 miles apart. I guess we'll have to hookup this spring.

I haven't reported in lately since I've been spending all my free time cleaning/painting the underside (pretty boring stuff and not too pretty). Added a 1" zero rate block to the rear and mounted the rear calipers. Yesterday I just received my Howell EFI kit. Yes, wifey is not too happy. I'll post pictures after this weekend.